Tournament time

With the boys’ basketball division tournaments finshing up this past weekend, the field is now set for the 16-team statewide tournament that will begin this week.

Eight of the teams come from Division I, with Classical heading the list as the top overall seed on the strength of a run to the D-I finals and a 15-3 regular season. North Kingstown and La Salle are right behind the Purple.

The fourth-seeded team is Cumberland, the D-II champ. The Clippers, who went 15-3 during the regular season, are one of seven D-II teams in the field. Division III champion North Smithfield is the No. 5 seed, and is the only D-III team in the field. The Northmen went 18-0 during the regular season.

The only Warwick team in the field is Bishop Hendricken, which won two games in the D-I tournament to earn one of the final spots. The Hawks will play against La Salle on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at CCRI.

Other notable teams include defending state runner-up Hope, which went only 9-9 during the regular season but moved in to the top half of the bracket after winning the D-I tournament; Mt. Pleasant, which went 12-6 in D-I during the regular season; North Providence and Westerly, which each went 15-3 in D-II during the regular season, and Shea; which made a run to the D-II finals after going 12-6 during the year.

The tournament is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, with Round of 16 games being played that day and Thursday at CCRI and Roger Williams University. The quarterfinals will then be held in the form of four consecutive games on Sunday at Providence College.

The Final Four is slated for Friday, March 8 at the Ryan Center, with the championship game to be held on Sunday, March 10, also at the Ryan Center.